Trump’s push to rename artificial intelligence may drive surge in Slovenian domains

US President Donald Trump’s call to rename artificial intelligence as “superintelligence” may have caused a sharp increase in registrations of Slovenian internet domains, according to the country’s official domain registry.

Superintelligence can be shortened to SI, the same letters used for Slovenia’s “.si” domain ending.

Register.si spokesperson Klara Herman said 44,000 addresses ending in “.si” were registered during September.

About 11,000 were registered on September 30 alone. Herman described the increase as unprecedented compared with the previous 12 months.

Trump proposed replacing the term artificial intelligence during a September 22 speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

“The use of the word ‘artificial’ makes it sound fake,” Trump said. “It is not fake, it is actually fantastic.”

He described superintelligence as a “new world” but said caution was necessary.

Trump also signed an order requiring US government agencies and public institutions to replace AI with SI on websites, in reports and in other communications.

The BBC said financial speculation could help explain the increase in Slovenian domain registrations.

Some internet addresses have produced large profits for their owners. The domain “men.com,” bought for about 100,000 DKK in 1997, was sold for around 9 million DKK in 2004, according to the BBC.